Land Registry don't believe us!

ab7167

Had a phone call from our solicitor today saying the land registry are refusing to transfer the property we bought April 9th into our names, as they don't believe the boundary on the plans we sent is correct? The last time the property was conveyed was 1955... So we just sent the 1955 plans in and they have been rejected? Solicitor saying we now have have plans of our land and our neighbours land drawn and get signatures to agree the boundary! Is this in any way normal? And what happens in the interim re. charges etc on the property - as according to the LR it still belongs to the previous owner? is this a normal length of time for this type of problem?

Am a bit stressed about this now - please tell me it's not a problem! OH has appt with sol on Friday, but if anyone can reassure me in advance I would be grateful...

G_M

I assume this was not a registered property - 1st registration?

My guess is that the LR already have neighboring properties registered, and their plans conflict with the plan you sent them from the 1955 conveyance?

1st thing to do is look at the 1955 plan and confirm it really conforms with reality - ie the actual land you have bought.

You will then have to convince the LR of this - difficult as it may mean that a bit of land which they have marked as belonging to a neighbour is actually yours. If the neighbour is currently using that land, they'll be understandably unhappy about giving it up!

However if the bit of land in question clearly belongs to your property (ie there's a garden fence) then it might just involve a bit of beaurocracy.

ab7167

Had a look, neither our house or the neighbour is registered. It is only one side that they are questioning. It is a bit of an odd wiggly boundary, but the 1955 plan is quite detailed and clear and conforms to what is on the ground in terms of fences etc. They seem to (from phone call, it was a bit vague) be concerned about the fact that we have an outbuilding that has a party wall with next doors outbuilding. I.e. the boundary runs through the middle of the outbuilding? that can't be particularly unusual, surely? Anyway, it's just the time, money and effort involves that is the problem... And of course, the problem with the previous owner still "owning" the property is not an issue as it was a probate sale... Stupid of me there!

G_M

Lots of boundaries run down party walls. Sounds like your solicitor should be able to sort this - yes a bit of time and hastle, but not too serious. Is he working on a fixed fee for the conveyancing, or charging by time? Might be a small extra charge for the extra work.

ab7167

Fixed fee, but we wil need to have proper electronic plans drawn up showing the boundary and get them signed. I had just never heard of this happening before and it threw me a bit!

timmyt

did your lawyer do an index map search to see if the 1955 plan was indeed unregistered now?

if not, first mistake.

then, I would have rejected the 1955 plan as I try to do with all unregistered plans for the very reason the Land Registry are rejecting it. I always insist on first registration. HOwever, having visited the Land REgistry offices in two localities, they say they will not reject the 1st registration if it is based on a previous deeds plan, so tell them this, and try resubmitting it and see if it lands on someone else's desk. that has worked before for me, and then it goes through.

forget the charges point, as your lawyer has an Undertaking for them to be repaid.

sounds like your lawyer (was he even a solicitor) did not do a through job, as only now is he dealing with it all!

ab7167

Was all a fuss over nothing. OH popped into solicitor's office, to find out the plan he sent to the LR wasn't the 1955 one, but was an extract from the Drainage search with a bit of red felt tip round the boundary. As the boundary is not straight lines, and the solicitor obviously wasn't totally sure where it was - it's not obvious from the map, you have to be standing in the garden to see how it works, he'd just guessed it in parts. I can now understand why it was rejected! Fortunately, as we are in the middle of a planning permission application, we have some nice 1:1250 scale plans with north arrow etc handy. OH has scanned one in, and computer drawn the boundary where it is supposed to be and we will resubmit this and see if they accept it :-) Thanks for the advice...